Wednesday, November 19, 2014

My older son has been really enjoying writing on his huge chalkboard at school and was delighted to hear that they make paint that can turn a wall into a chalkboard. Figuring we could paint over it if it was a disaster, we taped up a space and went for it.

He actually did most of it~ I guided the corners and the spacing. The lines are double because we also did a glow in the dark border but we never leave the light on in there long enough to charge it up.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

As you recall, we made the one sheet plywood boat this summer. We had a lot of fun with it in the swimming pool, then ran into a couple of problems.

One problem with the boat was that it was a little hard to see over the keel and be careful of fellow swimmers. Another problem with the boat was the window. Though extremely cool (as an add-on feature), it let in water. So we took it off and then attached and sealed it with silicon caulk (I used a disposable latex glove this time- that stuff is HARD to get off your hands!).

The boat was working great until the two issues collided to form problem number three. There were too many swimmers one hot Indian Summer afternoon in the pool. So we took the boat out and Little Brother started to climb on and in and around it. Then he stepped on the window and it popped right out.

So it went back to dry dock.

And there it sat.

Until Big Brother had an Idea. He wanted to make an airplane. I spent my usual two days trying to get him to explain and plan his idea and he spent that time trying to get us to Home Depot and drawing a blueprint.

Then we walked past the boat in dry dock and a plan was formed.

First we added wheels. One wheel on each corner. One set swivels, and the other set doesn't (that's why they are dragging it backwards all the time). If I would do this again, I would use larger wheels (these are 2" casters) and have them all swivel.

Then we used the leftover angle pieces from the bow side pieces and made them into a tail (yes, the angle is odd, but that's how we got it to attach and be stable).

Then came the wing, which is a 1x2 drilled into the boat in the middle. The boys sanded the edges and decorated it. They later added jets underneath using a dowel cut into four pieces, but it fell off fairly quickly.

We used the circular piece of plywood that had been taken out for the original boat window and attached it onto the boat using a bolt so it would spin as the steering wheel. We made another for a co-pilot.

They attached a hook to the end, and clipped a rope from the tricycle onto the hook.

They drew a runway on the street with sidewalk chalk and were on their way.

They kept adding and modifying. On the tail is an exhaust pipe (old juice bottle with PVC fitted in and kept in place with a steel band like you use to attach a water heater to the wall). On the back is a sink (steel bowl which fits into another piece of plywood with a hole sized for it to sit into). They took a little cool box (igloo like this but blue) and stocked it with cheese sticks and kept it on board. They kept talking about pretzels.

Big Brother then changed his blueprint to match the design and got some other ideas. He wanted a top of the fuselage.

So we made a second boat, but didn't waterproof it or paint it, or add a back piece. We also made the window larger -- to be used as a door.

Other additions have been a back window (plexiglass), and a hatch door for the window-- also of plexiglass.

The kids have made microphones out of PVC scraps.

They need someone to push from behind often, because it is a heavy load (especially with two sheets of plywood now) and the wheels are small.

Another new addition, in green below, are the parachutes. You stand on top of the airplane, hold out the parachute, and then jump down.

Friday, November 14, 2014

We were at the candy store, I mean Home Depot, the other day. We found a bit of wood in the hobby aisle, and thought to make a picture frame. We found a piece of plexiglass 8x10 in the glazing aisle and we were on our way.

We came home and mitred the corners using a hand saw and the mitre box, then glued them together with wood glue and held the wood glue in place while it dried with painter's tape.

This is where our design could use some help. We pre-drilled holes in the plexiglass so it wouldn't shatter, and screwed through the glass and frame to attach it. You could do two sheets of plexiglass and slide a photo between.

On the back, we mounted picture mounting hardware and my son wrote his name.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

We did some chalkboard paint in one of the kid's bedrooms, then on a lower kitchen cabinet. Now we added two more cabinets in the kitchen. Our concern was the chalk dust on the counters, and I am pleased to say it hasn't been an issue.

AND-- we can practice some pesky sight words and lowercase letters that look similar.

My older son also asked why we spent so much time in preschool learning uppercase letters, and now, in K, everything is in lowercase! That's a good point.